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Vernier Cam Gear

4K views 18 replies 5 participants last post by  Royal Blue 
#1 ·
Hi, I'm a newbie to this forum and was wondering if anyone else runs a Vernier Cam Gear on their Falcon 6.

I recently had a Cam Chip package put into my Futura and am looking at also having a Vernier Gear installed which will allow me to move the cam by up to 6 degrees. So I believe.

Any information would be helpful...
 
#2 ·
I don't belive that there is an off the shelf one available. However a good machine shop can easily make one up. A cheaper but very bodgy alternative is to simply move the chain 1 tooth out. The vernier idea is the way to go however for obvious reasons. I take it the cam specs prefer the cam timing to be set differently to the stock cam? Not having looked at an OHC Falcon engine in a while I can't remember how much stuffing around it would be to vary the timing.
 
#3 ·
Thanks FTEfan:

Actually I know of two off the shelf Vernier Cam Gears for the Falcon OHC I can go for, these being:

*Crow Cams
*Chiptorque

As my Chip/Cam package is a HP4 from chiptorque I would look to go with them.

Currently my engine produces most of its power above 3000rpm, the car is not bad below that point however under load with passengers It really bogs down. I need more usable as I would say "Street power" aound 60 to 80km's hour. It's an Automatic so this dosen't help.

My other option is going for a 3.45:1 diff gear similar to that in the XR6 but this option is a tad expensive.

Does anyone have any other options??
 
#5 ·
Nipper,

I've just fitted one of the Crow gears to my ED Futura (along with an EFXR6 Head and Cam). I haven't started messing with adjusting it yet, but indications are that I'll have to look at doing so as the power delivery is not quite right - sort of opposite to what you have. I suspect that the arbitrary position it came set to has left me with too much advance.

The Crow gear basically has 5 bolts in slotted holes which enables the two parts of the gear to be moved relative to each other - not a vernier adjustment strictly speaking.

As far as I know, ChipTorque use Crow stuff - ie. cams, so their gear is probably just the Crow one ???
 
#6 ·
EDFUTURA: Thanks for the info. Can you please keep me updated on how you find the head & cam work.
Did you upgrade the Valves & Springs or is it a bolt on XR6 head.

I have found that there is plenty of go in the IL6 if you just go looking for it.

Nipper....
 
#7 ·
Hi again Nipper,

I got just the bare EFXR6 Head (brand spankin' new!) and then had to get the valves, springs, spring seats, spring retainers and collets separately (the head came with valve seats in it) - which I then had to assemble into the head.

The inlet valves, spring seats, spring retainers and collets were just std part numbers but the springs and exhaust valves were EFTVE parts (springs are higher tension and exh valves are larger). The springs and exhaust valves had splashes of red paint on them - presumably to identify them as TVE bits.

So far the results are not quite (as good as) what I was expecting.

Previously I had just the std head with about 30 thou off it and an EDXR6 Cam as well as the EF Intake setup and an ED XR6 ECU. The whole valve gear was just std - ie. not XR6 springs or guides.

That setup went pretty good - but I'm finding that the new head and cam are not a huge improvement!! With the EFXR6 Head I also fitted the EFXR6 Cam, Crow adjustable gear and an EFXR6 Fuel regulator (300kpa instead of 270kpa).

There's definitely some increase in power and especially torque right across the range, but it's something in the order of the difference between aircon on and aircon off - if you know what I mean. I'm a bit shocked and still in the process of making sure I haven't stuffed something up or missed something.

At this stage it's definitely not good bang for buck value!

Mind you, it's all relative - I used to have a 5.0 VC SLE Commodore with YT heads, graphed dizzy and worked Rochy etc. , and if I came across that car tomorrow I'd confidently kill it with this one :)
 
#8 ·
Thanks EDFUTURA, just a thought on your current lack of power/response. Is your EEC up to the job?. You have made a number of very critical changes which are all controlled by the EEC, maybe this might be the source of your problem!!.

Nipper..........
 
#9 ·
Hi Nipper,

Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm putting it down to at this stage as well (trying not to think about the fact that I've just mailed my EDXR6 cam across the country). Although it's an EDXR6 ECU, the EFXR6 Cam is somewhat different - with later exhaust timing in particular.

My options are to look at getting a module programmed up for it, or having a Uni-Chip fitted and tuned, or put an EDXR6 Cam back in (Fitting an EFXR6 ECU would be too much buggering about). Due to cost and simplicity I think I'll be ordering another EDXR6 Cam before long! (have already passed my old one on to someone) - that way the engine "brain" and the fuel/spark "brain" will both be on more or less the same wavelength.

Firstly though I'm going to try advancing the cam to see if bringing the exhaust timing closer to what the ECU expects will help - mind you, that could make the inlet timing too early for the wee beast - and/or cause problems with excessive resultant compression. Hmmm - I perhaps I should give some thought to the impact of tweaking the ignition timing too... - any ideas are welcome.
 
#10 ·
Mate, I'm not sure but I think your problem might be that the XR6 EEC4 is not controlling the Dual runners on your upgraded EF Injection system.. I'm sure it needs EEC5 to contol this properly...

As I said not sure but!!!!!!!

Nipper.......
 
#11 ·
Hmmmm,.... yep, that could well be part of it too! (it's good to have someone outside the situation have a look at it - thanks!).

I've had all sorts of trouble finding myself one of the vacuum solenoid valves needed to drive the runner switching, so for 2 years now it's just been locked in long path position with a cable tie.

(The proper valve has three ports - two linked together supplies vacuum to pull the butterflies shut - that's the normal unpowered position of the valve, and then the port linked to the butterfly actuator is vented to atmosphere thru the third port at 3800rpm which allows the butterflies to open. As revs come back down thru 3800rpm the valve is de-energised again which links the first two ports back together and sucks the actuator into the buterflies closed position etc.)

You'd be amazed how hard it is to get across to people both at Ford spares departments and at wreckers what this vacuum solenoid is, that it exists and why in fact it must exist and be in the car somewhere!! I've nearly been sold the actuator twice and most recently when I was certain I'd finally tracked down the right gizmo, what should arrive but an Idle Speed Control Valve!!! - Aaaaaarrrrrggghhhh!

Anyway, I've finally found out where the rotten little thing lives in the engine bay (workshop manual doesn't show it's location, that's been the whole problem for me) and from that description I think I've finally got a wrecker to get his hands on one - it should arrive any day. Then I'll need to sort out an rpm switch to operate it.

I guess I should wait and see what difference having the runners working makes before I get carried away with changing the cam again - good point!!

ps I've edited my last airbox post to fix a dumb mistake I made due to rusty memory - I'd suggest rereading it again as it now makes better sense :)

pps I'll attach a bad photo of the Crow adjustable gear.
 
#13 ·
Nipper,

I've been thinking of exactly the same thing for ages but haven't got around to chasing it, so unfortunately can't offer any help there - as a matter of fact I'd be very keen to hear of any info you can manage to dig up (and I'll pass on anything I find out).

Having tried an EDXR6 Cam, Crow 22825 Cam and now an EFXR6 cam - I've found that the main characteristic of all these cams is that although they don't cause all that great an increase in bottom end, they all improve the mid range and especially top end (particularly the XR cams) - so having a converter that lets the engine spin up initially that bit quicker should really help make the whole experience livelier - ie. off the line.

I know that using terms like "top end" in reference to the 4.0 Falcon engine seems odd - but I mean relative to the std engine - ie. a std 4.0 ED will pull quite healthily to about 140kph and then sort of flatten out. Shove an EDXR6 cam into it and it will feel quite similar to the std car off the line, but thru 80kph it will really start to pull (markedly livelier than the std cam) and will continue to pull that hard right up to the 180kph limiter! (Crow 22829 will feel much like std cam - except affected less by load - but again right to the limiter - not flattening out at 140 or so).

Hmmm - maybe I'll start making calls. Unfortunately I have a horrible feeling it'll be like most things I've tried to research for upgrading this car - the reaction will probably be "High Stall converter for a 4.0 ED Falcon? .... no,... never heard of anything like that." - Aaaaarrrrrggghhh!!
 
#14 ·
I can get them here. It's a matter of where I want the Stall 2,200rpm or 2,500rpm or up.... Looking at about $ 700 installed... I need one that incorporates the Ford 4th gear.... so that I can maintain fuel economy.... Well sort of ....LOL.....

I need to talk with my Dyno man to get the right stall, other wise I'll blow the convertor out.....

Nipper......
 
#16 ·
Matt from Newcastle gearbox & Diff can get what I want. He can get them off the shelf but needs to know the stall I need. If they cannot get the exact one off the shelf he can get me one custom made. However that will be more dollars.... From the sound of things It looks like I will need 2,500rpm.... Will let you know details as they come to hand...

Nipper.......
 
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